Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST EMERGING THREAT AGENTS

GIGI KWIK GRONVALL

Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland

1 INTRODUCTION

The outcome of an infectious disease outbreak may depend on the resources to manage it. If medical countermeasures are available, and can be delivered in time, they could potentially save lives and save medical resources. Drugs could be used to treat the ill. Vaccines could be used to protect health care workers providing care to the sick. If the disease is contagious, vaccination may limit the spread of the disease, and some vaccines may be used even after exposure to prevent symptoms. Diagnostic tests can be used to rapidly distinguish people who need treatment, saving valuable medical resources for those who need them.

Although medical countermeasures could limit the numbers of deaths in a public health emergency, they may not be available. Vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tests take years to develop, they are expensive, and technical hurdles add more money and time to their development. If a countermeasure is not available prior to a public health emergency, it may not be available for years afterwards. For example, in 2003, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic was managed without a vaccine or drug specific to the disease. Years later, a vaccine or drug is still not available. For other diseases, the technical challenges may seem insurmountable: for example, decades of research have ...